Q&A for: 29-Mar-06
1469. Q:
mike, im the 15 year old puffy nipples guy.. i have a problem i think. i was on your 5 day program, and i swtiched over to a 5x5 program in which i only go to the gym 3 days a week. the problem is my stomach seems like it is sticking out more now, not the whole stomach area, just like the middle area. when i push into it its not like jiggly fat or anything, it feels kind of like an unflexed muscle or something, in which it still sinks in but you can feel the muscle a little bit. is this fat? or muscle? will it spread out to the whole stomach? because right now its all in the middle and looks kind of weird.
A:
I can't tell you exactly what it is, but in general I would say you're worrying too much about little things like chest or stomach being a little softer or different shaped from day to day. It'll happen for any number of reasons -- could be real fat gains, could be something else -- and you can't obsess about it because it can become a very unhealthy and counterproductive habit over time. Focus on your overall progress (or lack of it) and not on the little things. If you are bulking up, then what you need to look for in muscle and strength increases with minimal overall fat increase (what 'minimal' is is determined by you -- different people have different tolerances). If your overall progress is good, then just keep at it. If it's not, then it's time to rethink your program and/or diet.
1470. Q:
How many kgs should i gain each month in order to not gain fat from weight training?I have been doing weight training for 7 months now and gained 5,5 kgs so far.What is the maximum i could gain?Is it low is it many?I didnt get any fat cause i can see it on my body so mostly all these should be muscles.
A:
About 1 kg per month is a good pace, at least for the first 6-12 months of bulking (after that it becomes harder to gain muscle and easier to gain fat for most people). So you're gaining weight at just about the perfect pace and have had minimal fat gains as the result. As long as you can continue gaining muscle with little or no fat, just keep at it!
1471. Q:
If you are dieting to lose weight, and you have a pretty bad cheat episode,(and by bad i mean A LOT of ice cream peanut butter and chocolate syrup) what is the best way to deal with it? Should you step up the cardio the next day? Cut calories the next day to make up for it, or a combination of the two?
A:
Change absolutely nothing! Don't skip or change any meals and don't do any more cardio or weights. Cheats will happen, just move on and get right back to your regular program.
1472. Q:
Hi mike i think i have piles , yesterday when i was doing my business my faeces was hard and there was a little blood so i guess the reason is that im not drinking enough water and dietary fibre so can you tell me how many ml is 8 glasses of water and the amount of vegetables i should eat so i wont get the problem again
A:
That's really something that you should be talking to a doctor about. In general plenty of water and at least a couple of servings of green veggies (lettuce, spinach, broccoli, green beans, etc.) per day should keep your system regular. But, as I said, this is a health question, not a fitness one, and you should talk to your doctor.
1473. Q:
Mike, when lifting to failure, what happens if you achieve failure after 5 (or even 4 reps)? Is doing so few reps at all helpful or should one decrease the weight in order to do a few more reps?
A:
Yes, low-rep failure lifts like that still carry muscle-building and fat-burning benefits and will help you build strength nicely as well. I would not recommend doing only such low-rep to-failure training because it is very stressful on your system and can easily lead to overtraining. But if a few of your sets end up being only 4 or 5 reps because you're trying a heavier weight than you're used to or because you didn't rest long between sets, that's perfectly fine. If you like to do more low-rep training, you can, but I would recommend choosing a slightly lighter weight and stopping a rep or two short of failure. This will still give you all the benefits but lessen the danger of overtraining.
|
